{"id":23736,"date":"2026-02-05T12:07:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T17:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/?page_id=23736"},"modified":"2026-05-27T09:25:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T13:25:39","slug":"graduate-school-awards","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/graduate-school-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate School Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Graduate School Awards<\/h1>

Yearly Recognition of Outstanding Graduate Excellence<\/p>University Academic Excellence Awards<\/a><\/div><\/div>

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Celebration of the 2026 Graduate School Awards<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The URI Graduate Awards <\/strong>underscore the dedication to excellence at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School. They serve as a testament to the high standards of research, teaching, and mentorship within the graduate programs, encouraging students and faculty alike to continue to strive for academic and professional distinction – both within and beyond our vibrant campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outstanding Graduate Mentoring Award<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Outstanding Mentoring Award <\/a><\/strong>recognizes faculty members who demonstrate exceptional commitment to guiding and supporting graduate students. These honors celebrate mentors who foster inclusive and well-structured mentoring relationships and contribute significantly to the overall success and development of their graduate mentees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduate Mentoring is a cornerstone of graduate studies at the University of Rhode Island. Learn more about Graduate Mentoring Resources<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outstanding Doctoral Research<\/strong> and Master\u2019s Thesis Research Award<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Outstanding Doctoral Research Award<\/a><\/strong> and Outstanding Master\u2019s Thesis Research Award<\/a><\/strong> celebrate the highest standards of graduate research excellence at the University of Rhode Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out all 2026 University Academic Excellence Awards<\/a> <\/strong>for Research, Teaching, and Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On April 30, 2026, the University of Rhode Island Graduate School celebrated the recipients of the 2026 Outstanding Awards during a ceremony held at Edwards Hall Auditorium, URI. The event was hosted by URI President Marc Parlange and Provost and Executive Vice President Barbara Wolfe, who joined faculty, students, and staff in recognizing exceptional achievements in graduate education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Nicole H. Weiss <\/strong>is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the STRESS Lab (Department of Psychology, College of Health Sciences). She is widely recognized for cultivating a rigorous, collaborative, and highly supportive training environment that prioritizes both scientific excellence and trainee development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2017, her graduate mentees have co-authored over 150 of her publications, serving as first authors on more than 65, and have led numerous competitive grant submissions, including six NIH F31 awards. Her graduate mentees have received numerous prestigious honors and have advanced to leading research and academic positions, including appointments at institutions such as Yale University. Dr. Weiss integrates research excellence with a strong commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) in mentoring. She promotes culturally responsive research and training while preparing graduate mentees to work effectively and compassionately with systemically excluded and marginalized populations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her mentorship has been formally recognized through her selection to the URI Graduate School Graduate Mentoring Committee and national awards, including the Outstanding Mentorship Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and the Nancy Petry Mid-Career Award from APA Division 50 (Society of Addiction Psychology).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Anna Cetera<\/strong> is a graduate student in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Rhode Island, where she is completing her Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering and Bachelor of Arts in Spanish through URI\u2019s International Engineering Program, which integrates engineering education with global and cross-cultural experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the Translational Neurorobotics Laboratory, her master\u2019s thesis focuses on developing noninvasive brain-computer interface systems to decode brain activity during visuomotor tasks. Under the guidance of her research advisor, Dr. Reza Abiri, her work aims to characterize the neural mechanisms underlying upper-limb movements using noninvasive brain signals, with a focus on how the brain coordinates, encodes, and executes motor processes. By integrating innovative experimental platforms with advanced signal processing and deep learning techniques, she identifies frequency-specific brain patterns associated with different hand movements and motor intentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna\u2019s research advances the development of clinically accessible brain-machine interfaces and contributes to neuroprosthetic technologies designed to restore hand function and improve independence for individuals with paralysis. Her work bridges neuroscience, engineering, and data-driven modeling to support the next generation of assistive neurotechnology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Juliana Agudelo Areiza<\/strong> (Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
College of Pharmacy) earned her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences at URI, specializing in Pharmacology and Toxicology. Her research examines how PFAS, persistent environmental toxicants, accumulate in tissues, disrupt protein homeostasis, and contribute to adverse health outcomes. Her work includes studies on neonatal neurotoxicity following maternal PFAS exposure, trends in PFAS accumulation across human liver samples, and paired liver-serum analyses exploring individual variability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She led a major study quantifying PFAS in human livers collected across the United States from 2000 to 2024, identifying declining legacy compounds alongside rising emerging PFAS and highlighting the roles of age, sex, and liver disease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juliana has also developed innovative laboratory methods and computational tools for large-scale data analysis. As a postdoctoral fellow at URI, she serves as laboratory manager and scientific lead, directing PFAS research across human, rodent, and fish models.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Ariel Leahy<\/strong> is a PhD candidate in the Comparative Ecophysiology of Animals Lab (CEAL Lab) in the Natural Resource Sciences Department at URI. Broadly, her research investigates the adaptations marine
mammals have evolved to tolerate and manipulate the marine environment. She works at the intersection of several physiological disciplines including anatomy, biomechanics, and gas dynamics to answer questions about the evolution of aquatic maneuvering capacity and diving capabilities in marine mammals. She particularly enjoys comparing these physiological adaptations across marine mammal taxa. Ariel is also an
artist and often combines her passions for art and STEM by incorporating hand drawn illustrations into her presentations and publications. Beyond her research, Ariel is a cat mom, and a lover of dancing, conversation, and good food.
The poem \u201cMy WOMEN<\/a>\u201d was written about the power of female friendship. During the darkest point of her life, Ariel\u2019s best girlfriends rallied around her, absorbed her grief and hoisted her out of the void. Her friends\u2019 unyielding love and support gave her hope that things would become brighter one day. And things did, eventually become brighter. Ariel wrote this poem as a way to process the complex and contradicting emotions of her emptiness and grief with the fulfilled gratefulness poured into her by her best friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Submit a Nomination<\/h1>

The Graduate School invites annual nominations to recognize faculty who demonstrate exceptional graduate mentoring and graduate students whose doctoral or master\u2019s research reflects outstanding academic achievement.<\/p>

Review award details and nomination guidelines<\/a><\/p><\/div>

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Meet Our Past Awardees<\/h1>The Tradition of Graduate Excellence<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n
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Celebration of the 2026 Graduate School Awards The URI Graduate Awards underscore the dedication to excellence at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School. They serve as a testament to the high standards of research, teaching, and mentorship within the graduate programs, encouraging students and faculty alike to continue to strive for academic and professional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5370,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-23736","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5370"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23736"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24301,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23736\/revisions\/24301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/graduate-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}